April 18, 2011 Steepest Decline Since March 16
Prices dropped more than two percent at the opening bell and then came back. However, at the end of the day, the DJIA lost -1.14 percent, the S&P500 -1.10 percent and the NASDAQ closed down -1.06 percent. It was the worst performance
in 23 trading days.
Adding todays pattern to Fridays three straight gains for the DJIA and the S&P500 but only one up day for the NASDAQ generates a combination seen on only 13 previous occasions, with just four since the beginning of 2000. A further unusual feature is that these last four losses ranged from -1.34 percent to near minus 6 percent, whereas the earlier declines stayed above minus one percent.
The past offers no clear signal for tomorrow. Whereas the NASDAQ suffered three declines and one increase, the other two indices had the opposite experience: three gains and one decline.
Note that Fridays projection for today, based on the record, was strongly negative for both the DJIA and the S&P500; but the NASDAQ record showed twice as many advances as declines.
DJIA -1.14 percent
NASDAQ -1.06 percent
S&P500 -1.10 percent